The U.S. could lose 34 million acres of forest by 2060

Do you like trees? I like trees. Trees are pretty interesting, right? And, if my fourth-grade science teacher is to be believed, they exhale oxygen, which is a nice complement to the way my lungs work. It is with regret, then, that I must inform you that trees are going away. Not all of them. Just 34 million acres of them across the United States.

That figure is the worst-case scenario according to the U.S. Forest Service’s forecast of how expanding residential and industrial areas will combine with climate change to wipe out an enormous amount of forested land.

Urban and developed land is expected to increase between 41 and 77 percent by 2060.

In each chart below, different “RPA” figures indicate different forecasting models.

Forest losses will range from 16 million to 34 million acres, most severely in the South. The South will lose from 9 million to 21 million acres — 4 to 8 percent of the forest cover it had in 2007.

The peak of forest inventory will be between 2020 and 2030. After that, America’s forests will be a source of carbon dioxide emission due to decomposition, instead of being a source of reduction as trees photosynthesize.

Complete loss of forest isn’t the only problem; the amount of housing bleeding into forest space will also degrade forest quality. (Which is why, if I may editorialize, we need more bears.)

Climate change will increase water usage for irrigation and landscaping, resulting in an increase of water withdrawal from natural sources from 2 percent in 2005 to 42 percent by 2060.

While we’re at it: Water shortages are going to be a big problem, particularly in the Southwest.